The invention relates to a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to a facsimile apparatus that can control the destination to which received data is outputted, the facsimile apparatus being connected to an external terminal device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "PC" whenever applicable).
One exemplary conventional facsimile apparatus that can transfer received image data to an external computer is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 5-276302. This facsimile apparatus includes: a mode specifying means that specifies in advance the mode that determines a destination, either an external computer 20 or a printer 21, to which received image data is transferred; and a control means that controls the apparatus in such a manner that the received data can be transferred selectively either to the external computer 20 or to the printer 21. Therefore, the user can select the destination in accordance with circumstances or with a time schedule; i.e., the user can select a mode from the mode in which the received image data is transferred to the external computer and the mode in which the received image data is outputted to the printer.
In the aforementioned facsimile apparatus, when the specified destination is not available to store or output the received data, e.g., if the specified destination is the external computer and if the external computer is turned off or has the buffer thereof full of data, or if the specified destination is the printer and if recording sheets are not available in the printer with the receiving buffer of the printer being full of data, neither destination devices are available to receive the data. In this case, there exists the problem that these devices must send an error signal to the transmitting apparatus, stop communication, and request re-transmission after the error has been recovered.